In fact, they plan to bring the Moke back, starting with a limited production run of 1000 units, all of which have reportedly been sold; in Australia.

(Australia manufactured nearly 30,000 Mokes for the local market and for export in the late-60s and 70s.)

Designer Michael Young was responsible for redesigning the Moke for 2013. Moke International has teamed up with Sicar Enginering and Chery Motors in China to build the car.

Locally, the new car will be sold as the “Classic Moke” and distributed by Moke Enterprises in Melbourne, but distributors have been sourced in other countries.

Available in both left- and right-hand-drive, power for the new Moke comes from Chery’s liquid cooled 1.0 litre three-cylinder petrol engine, producing 50kW and 93Nm.

A five-speed manual transmission is standard but it's also available with an automatic transmission.

Top speed is estimated at 110km/h, while a 0-100km/h time has yet to be tested. Fuel tank capacity is 30 litres and the Moke is offered with a one-year, 15,000km warranty.

The Moke was killed in most markets (notably Australia) by the cost of increasingly onerous safety demands and buyer perception that the open bare-bones Moke was unsafe.

While the new model has sought to address some of the safety shortcomings, there are no driver nor passenger airbags, and no ESP or ABS to speak of (at least not yet).

There is however three-point seatbelts for all four seats (the rear seats themselves are optional), while handling is said to be improved over Mokes of yesteryear.

Front brakes are now nine-inch discs with drum brakes on the rear, and the Moke sits upon 13-inch alloy wheels.

“As a Moke enthusiast, when the email came asking if I was interested to talk about the project it was more like a call for duty,” Moke designer Michael Young said.

“You must remember that this car is from the '70s, I knew for a fact there was no way we could just replicate it, times have changed and the car needed enhancements, improved road holding, braking, suspension and so on.”

The Classic Moke may just be the beginning of the Mini sub-brand’s revival, with plans for an electric-powered eMoke in the near future.

Pricing for the Classic Moke is yet to be confirmed but Moke International is taking enquiries from potential customers via its website. The approval process for a limited import program is yet to be finalised in Australia.

Links contained in this article

TMR Comments

Doctor | 09 Oct 2013 23:03

Is there a loophole where limited imports without ESC can be sold in Australia from 2014?

Brosif Doctor | 09 Oct 2013 23:33

I was wondering the same thing.
There is a the SEVS (Specialist & Enthusiast Vehicle scheme which allows low volume imports but it appears to be limited to 100 vehicles and they DO have to be ARRed.
My guess would be they are a "commercial vehicle" and will be imported by November. "ESC will be mandatory for all new passenger cars from November 2011, with all new vehicles requiring the life-saving tech from November 2013 onwards"
http://www.themotorreport.com.au/35060/federal-government-to-make-electronic-stability-control-mandatory-from-2011

jeremy | 09 Oct 2013 23:15

Awesome. I'll buy one if they become more generally available.
Any info on pricing?

Perri jeremy | 30 Dec 2014 09:12

$22,000 + on road cost. Too pricey

CAZZO | 09 Oct 2013 23:20

$5k or forget it

BH | 09 Oct 2013 23:29

sick

Reecho | 10 Oct 2013 00:15

Note the engine is a 3 cylinder......not a 4 cylinder. Could be a hoot if it's light enough...

Reecho Balthazaaaaargh | 10 Oct 2013 00:25

Trevor Collett [TMR] Reecho | 10 Oct 2013 02:23

Thanks reecho and Balthazaaaargh,:)
We are going to guess that Moke International made a small typo on their spec sheet that we were perusing yesterday, and that the engine is indeed a three-cylinder.
Seems they may have got the number of cylinders and valves mixed up. We've amended the article now.
Thanks again, we appreciate that our readers are so intelligent and pay close attention. :):)

mackson | 10 Oct 2013 07:03

You bet we are intelligent :) I also would like to know if this car will be able to satisfy the paperwork requirements. Will it be road registerable?

Des | 10 Oct 2013 11:23

As for the safety side of things, it's no worse than a motor bike. Except you wear a helmet on a bike. You would just have to factor that in when you drove it, just as you risk assess when on a bike.
The first thing I would do with one is junk the standard rims and put sunraysia rims on it, white of course.

jeremy Des | 11 Oct 2013 04:55

I was thinking the same thing.:-))

matt | 11 Oct 2013 01:28

Currently, only manual transmission Mokes are available for purchase (for $22,990 + on road costs). However, automatic transmission Mokes are approximately 6 months away from production and are estimated at an additional $3000 extra.
dont think they will sell

CAZZO matt | 11 Oct 2013 01:35

Currently, only manual transmission Mokes are available for purchase (for $22,990 + on road costs). However, automatic transmission Mokes are approximately 6 months away from production and are estimated at an additional $3000 extra.
dont think they will sell

Consider they sell a Geely *proper* car with multi doors, proper panels, interior etc for $7999 the Moke at $23k is NOWHERE, but ateco are behind it and we seen what they do with everything they *try* to import :)

jeremy matt | 11 Oct 2013 04:56

P King | 12 Oct 2013 07:48

I checked the date but, no it is October not April.
As a Moke enthusiast, when the email came asking if I was interested to talk about the project it was more like a call for duty,â€ Moke designer:D (snigger snigger) Michael Young said.
â€œYou must remember that this car is from the '70s, I knew for a fact there was no way we could just replicate it, times have changed and the car needed enhancements, improved road holding, braking, suspension and so on.â€
As an enthusiast one would have expected a more dilligent attention to the update - this is inferior in the following respects:- no shelf, ridiculous seats, cheapo wheels/trims, no nudge bar, indicators from a child's toy, fugly grille, no plexiglass quarters, dodgy wing mirrors - really poor considering there was not much to begin with yet they have skinted that!
For my $22K I would expect 12 cm more wheelbase, galvanised body, ESC and ABS at least, and seats interio with some of the original flair. This is just a motorised dustpan (without the brush).

Chest Rockjaw | 13 Oct 2013 07:16

Cool idea, however given that the car has nothing in it, the asking prices are laughable. Maybe they are only going to do low volumes, so a small % of bury prepared to pay the asking prices could be a viable business model for them. I also sudder at the 110km top speed and dud warranty.

jose carlos | 13 Nov 2014 00:04

im from madeira and we have a few mokes over here as you know the problem is finding those special parts that we cant get in in europe its a shame so please keep this classic mokes runinig :)